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Robot Skill To Camera

by Synthiam Inc.

Capture the output display of a robot skill and send it to a camera device.

Requires ARC v5 (Updated 7/5/2022)

How to add the Robot Skill To Camera robot skill

  1. Load the most recent release of ARC (Get ARC).
  2. Press the Project tab from the top menu bar in ARC.
  3. Press Add Robot Skill from the button ribbon bar in ARC.
  4. Choose the Camera category tab.
  5. Press the Robot Skill To Camera icon to add the robot skill to your project.

Don't have a robot yet?

Follow the Getting Started Guide to build a robot and use the Robot Skill To Camera robot skill.

How to use the Robot Skill To Camera robot skill

Capture the output display of a robot skill and send it to a camera device. Specify the robot skill to capture, and it will send the video to the selected camera device.

The Ultrasonic Radar Scan area is captured in this screenshot below and sent to the Camera Device as a video stream.

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Usage

  • You will need a camera device added to the project. Select the camera device from the configuration menu.
  • In the camera device, select the Custom option in the device list. Then press the start button.

Configuration

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Camera Device

  • The camera device that the video capture will be streamed to.

FPS

  • The frames per second rate that the video will be captured. A lower frame rate will reduce CPU usage.

Robot Skill

Area Preview

  • This is the preview of the video stream that will be sent to the camera device. Use the Left/Top/Width/Height sliders on the right to fine-tune the capture area.

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PRO
Germany
#1  

I again, have encountered 2 problems.

  1. Image flickers, this is not the case in the other skill (Screen To Camera).

Skill robot skill To Camera:

Skill Screen To Camera:

  1. Context menu, add ControlCommand, single quotes are missing here.

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ControlCommand("Robot Skill to Camera", Unpause);

ControlCommand("Robot Skill to Camera", "Unpause");

This is the case for both skills

.

PRO
Synthiam
#2  

What is your fps set to?

PRO
Germany
#3  

in the videos 10, but I also tested it with 1 or 2, same behavior

PRO
Synthiam
#4  

Does it do it at a lower fps?

PRO
Germany
#5  

yes also at 1 or 2 fps ...

PRO
Synthiam
#6  

Interesting... I cannot seem to reproduce it. It might be catching the redraw of the radar image but I can't be certain. I'll have to think about this one...

PRO
Synthiam
#7  

Oh, another thing. If your radar is set for a 250ms (default value) for scan speed, you can use an FPS of 4. That would save some CPU because the radar only updates ~4 times a second.

PRO
Germany
#8   — Edited

bad shaky video :-) 1, 2 and 5 fps

Have to install a screencapter program for videos :-) (Edit, hmm, Screen Recorder, ahhh .....)

As long as EZ-B is off, nothing wobbles... yes, I have less than 250ms, I have to check, I'll keep testing...

PRO
Synthiam
#9  

That is updating the video image very fast for only two fps. That is very strange!

PRO
Synthiam
#10  

I can reproduce with a faster radar scan speed. I set the radar scan speed to 100, redrawing the radar image ten times/second, and caused the issue. We see the image being drawn as the screen is captured. You don't see it with the other screen capture robot skill because it captures what is on screen.

This robot skill re-renders the control for every frame, catching the radar image only partially drawn.

There is a workaround...

  • lower the radar scan speed (i.e., to 250ms)
  • increase the increment speed to 10 or something, which will give you a similar sweep speed
  • lower the fps to 2 or 4 to match the 250ms scan speed
PRO
Synthiam
#11   — Edited

This is what the workaround looks like using the suggestions above...

PRO
Germany
#12  

tataa, now recorded with the "Screen Recorder" skill:

PRO
Synthiam
#13   — Edited

If you're attempting my suggested workaround, your scan interval is 100ms. The workaround would require the scan interval to be a higher number, so the robot skill has time for the radar image to be drawn. I'm recommending the default of 250ms

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PRO
Germany
#14  

will test it later, now there is dinner :-) ....

PRO
Germany
#15  

tested it with the settings, it's better but there are still errors. in this case with the radar skill, that's the way it is. I use the other skill for that, everything fits. it's totally ok for me..